BuEEAu OF Ageicitltuee. 247 



Once established, it should last three full years, 

 giving one crop of hay each year, and ought some time 

 to be made to do so by selection. 



Much has been said of Canada blue grass, and be- 

 cause of the use of its seeds for adulterating the seeds 

 of Kentucky blue grass, it has a bad reputation in Ken- 

 tucky. Yet it has its good qualities, one of which is a 

 capacity to take possession of rather poor soils, and 

 hold its own there. It is not very productive, and, when 

 old, is rather wiry, but I think in parts of the State not 

 adapted to ordinary blue grass, it might sometimes be 

 grown with profit. 



It is a good binder, because of its manner of spread- 

 ing by underground shoots, and on embankments and 

 hillsides liable to wash will be found helpful. It grows 

 spontaneously everywhere in Kentucky. 



We have a number of other members of the genus 

 Poa in Kentucky, but not one of them presents char- 

 acters that render it a promising subject for improve- 

 ment with a view to cultivation. Several introduced 

 Poas have been tested in our plots, but thus far we have 

 not found one that holds its own, when left to itself, 

 against blue grass and weeds. 



We have tested English blue grass, smooth brome- 

 grass, English fortail, perennial and Italian rye, and 

 the rest, but none of them, excepting the English Blue 

 Grass, known in the books as Festuca elatior, seems 

 very promising for our soils. 



The rye-grasses are highly valued in England, as 

 is also meadow iox-tailf Alopecurus pratensis). They 

 have proved to be neither very productive nor very 

 persistent on the Experiment Farm, and soon give way 

 before blue grass and weeds. They have been tried 

 several times, with the same result, and I think they 

 want a moister atmosphere, and more equable climate 

 than ours. 



The tall fescue, English blue grass, already men- 

 tioned, covers the ground like orchard grass, and yields 

 about as well, the forage being better liked by stock. 

 I consider this grass, though somewhat coarse, one of 

 the promising ones for the State. The ordinary Eng- 

 Jj?^ blue grass, l^np-jyu in botanies as Festuca pratensis, 



